So you're taking your business online for the first time, or simply overhauling your existing Online Business to keep those customers flooding back. It's easy to rush straight in, write pages worth of content and slap a design together - but there's no guarantee that it will achieve the goals you set out to achieve.

That's where SWOT comes in. A SWOT analysis helps you determine your internal Strengths and Weaknesses, taking into consideration the external Opportunities and Threats that may impact on your Online Business. Think of it as an internal/external audit - once you've taken a 360 degree snapshot of your site and what's happening online, you'll be able to leverage your strengths, improve on your weaknesses, and keep a keen eye on what's going on in the industry you're competing for clicks in.

Strengths & Weaknesses

To put it simply, Strengths are the things your site is currently doing that help you achieve your primary objective. For example, a user intuitive checkout process for your Online Shop may help you achieve higher sales, with less people abandoning their cart at the halfway point. On the other hand, a poorly designed checkout is a Weakness, hampering your business efforts. Check the shopping cart "Abandon Rate" in your eCommerce analytics section to gain an understanding of how far people are progressing with their purchases.

Here are some more ways to discover what you're doing well, and what you are not:

• Compare entry and exit page metrics to determine the path customers take when browing your site. If you are seeing the front page as the most popular entry and exit page combined with low traffic to certain sections of your site, you may not be effectively encouraging click throughs from the home page. Try placing big, noticable calls to action on the page, or excite them with some professional copy
• Look at your email newsletter sign up statistics to determine how many customers are opting in for your email marketing. If the subscription rate is low, you'll need to position your subscription box more effectively on your site, or insert a "Receive Newsletter" checkbox on your Web Forms.
• Do a Google Search for sites similar to yours and analyze the marketing message put forth by each. Does your website present a unique value proposition? It's crucial that your Online Business stands out from the online crowd - establish a unique message and tone for your online presence, differentiating you from the next search result.

These are just a few examples of strengths or weaknesses you might find along the way. As you build up your SWOT analysis, list every aspect of your Online Business and ask yourself "Does this help grow my business?" Every question you cannot backup with analytical evidence and answer with a "Yes", list as a weakness - there's always room for improvement. The key here is to be completely honest with yourself, so you can move forward with a better understanding of your business.

Opportunities & Threats

Monitoring the Opportunities and Threats surrounding your Online Business will help uncover previously hidden external factors impacting on your online profitability. For example, there may have recently been an opening for online advertising on an industry-related site that you were not aware of. This is a great opportunity for your Online Business, allowing you to gain extra exposure and bring higher traffic to your site. On the other hand, a price increase for online advertisements might prove to be a threat, as it raises the cost-per-click. Do a daily scan of industry related sites or blogs and monitor advertising marketplaces like BuySellAds for advertising opportunities.

Here are some more ways to determine the Opportunities and Threats that may impact on your business:

• Research and connect with your community. Your fans are one of your greatest assets - so don't ignore them. Search social media sites and user forums to gain a better understanding of your customer community and how they communicate. Explore the possibilities, such as encouraging word-of-mouth marketing via referral programs and promo codes. Start a Twitter account, or provide community forums for your customers to express their opinions on.
• Investigate what your competitors are doing well and not doing well with a simple Addictomatic or StartPR search. A common threat to your Online Business is competitors better differentiating themselves from the rest of the industry you operate in. Make sure your online marketing message remains unique and doesn't lag behind.
• Ensure that you are a member of any industry-related online groups or associations. Joining groups and interacting with people in your industry is a great way to gain exposure and keep up to date with developments in your online business environment.
• Make sure you that you're taking full advantage of the technology powering your Online Business. As the web evolves, so does the software solution you use to run your website - that means updates containing new features that will better help you run your Online Business.

It's important that you keep a watchful eye on the unpredictable external environment you operate in, as the Opportunities and Threats facing your business are constantly changing.

What's Next

Conducting a SWOT analysis is the first step in building a successful Online Business. Once you've got a detailed list of your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats, you'll have a better understanding of where your business sits, and be able to craft a more effective online strategy.

Incorporating the results of your analysis in to your online strategy is easy and follows a basic formula:

• Strengths - leverage these to your advantage (ie. if you're doing something well, keep it up)
• Weaknesses - try to minimize or improve on these (ie. if it's broken, fix it)
• Opportunities - exploit any opportunities before your competitors do
• Threats - protect yourself against these

When developing your strategy, apply your SWOT findings to the 4 P's which we've discussed in a previous blog post.

In the future, it's a good idea to periodically conduct a SWOT analysis, so you can measure how you're doing and adapt accordingly.